I refer to your news on I'm scared of ISA too, says Dr M .

Mahathir said: ' I m scared of ISA too [..]. During the time of Tunku (Abdul Rahman) there were those who wanted to arrest me [...] They usually come at about five in the morning'.

Mahathir should have added the following: 'At least when I was the prime minister, I sent my people in broad daylight to make arrests so that the suspects would not be scared. Like in the case of Anwar Ibrahim; we executed the arrest during the day and we even had the courtesy not to make them open the doors for us. We knocked them down ourselves. And then, before my IGP beat him to pulp, he had the courtesy to blindfold him.

'You know, I am a doctor. Blindfolding someone before beating him is akin to giving the patient anesthetic before you do the surgery. Can you imagine watching yourself beaten up without a blindfold? I was considerate and that was the reason no one was scared of the ISA during my era. However, during Tunku's time, I was really scared.'

When asked how his problem with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi could be resolved, Mahathir went on to say that: 'Among the things that need to be resolved is (by) sacking people like Brendan Pereira from the News Straits Times . This is our newspaper, but it is these people who are speaking on behalf of the Malays. I want to know if he is a Malay or not'.

I do not who is Brendan Pereira and being a non-racist, I do not give a damn about his race. However, I do read reports and news from the NST and writings of Periera. I have always thought that NST is a national newspaper read by people of all races and published by people of all races, even though like any business entity, it belongs to a particular group of people, in this case Umno.

If we go by what Mahathir said about 'This is our newspaper, but it is these people who are speaking on behalf of the Malays', is he telling us that the NST should only be written by the Malays for the Malays? Then can non-Malays like me continue to read the NST ? After all, it is your newspaper, and going by your logic, non-Malays may not have the right to read the NST .